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Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University (Canada), 1994. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: B, page: 4338. Adviser: J. E. Greedan.

Internships are an increasingly popular activity for university students wishing to learn about the world of work, and the term can encompass many types of opportunities for learning about industries, occupations, or simply the experience of a professional workplace. The present study examines students following full-time degree courses across a range of subjects, in internships that are not integrated into course requirements. Internships of this kind are often located within the ‘employability agenda’ for higher education, developing students’ transferable skills to enable them to make smooth transitions to knowledge work outside the university. University careers advisors therefore encourage these internships as a form of experiential learning, and the notion of student employability is implicitly accepted by policymakers and universities. Yet, little is known about how or what students learn in internships. This study, which took place over three summers, examines how six students from one university made sense of their ten-week summer internships in an investment bank. The students were interviewed prior to their internships, three times during the banking internship, and again on return to the university. Using conceptual tools from sociocultural theory, the study starts from an understanding of movement between university and workplace as a matter of transition, rather than transfer and application, of knowledge and skills from university to the workplace. Adopting the idea of the ‘figured world’ (Holland et al., 1998) permits examination of how the students engaged with the cultural world of the workplace setting, interpreting and engaging with the practices there, and experiencing identity struggles that were of significance to them. The findings reveal the lack of support for the students’ engagement both before and during their placements, and have implications for the careers advising given to students undertaking internships. The study therefore concludes with a presentation of the principles that underpin student experience of internships. Universities can assist this by providing more resources for guidance to students undertaking internships, by assisting them with developing an awareness of the motives that are inherent in the workplace, as well as their own motives and those of employers providing internships.

The transition from school to tertiary study of mathematics is rightly coming under increasing scrutiny in research. This paper employs Tall’s model of the three worlds of mathematical thinking to examine key variables in teaching and learning as they relate to this transition. One key variable in the transition is clearly the teacher/lecturer and we consider the perspectives of both teachers and lecturers on teaching related matters relevant to upper secondary and first year tertiary calculus students. While this paper deals with a small part of the data from the project, which aims to model the transition, the results provide evidence of similarities and differences in the thinking of teachers and lecturers about the transition process. They also show that each group lacks a clear understanding of the issues involved in the transition from the other’s perspective, and there is a great need for improved communication between the two sectors.

China is the top sending country of international students to Western universities. Chinese students can benefit a country's economy and aid in internationalizing campuses, providing opportunities for students to develop global competencies. However, as the number of Chinese students is increasing, so is the awareness of their difficulties in acculturating to the Western system of higher education. The literature attributes some of these difficulties to cultural, academic, and social factors. Filling a gap in the research, this cross-level study compares the preparation programs of four different types of secondary institutions. Results of surveys and interviews were correlated between faculty and alumni evaluating satisfaction and effectiveness of university preparation. The students generally were satisfied with their preparation training as compared to the faculty at the secondary schools. Results of this study will help bridge the gap of eradicating the difficulties Chinese students face in the Western higher education system.

Text in English / This study was designed to determine whether a relationship exists between self-reported mindfulness, self-consciousness, adjustment and academic performance in first-year university students. Additionally, the study aimed to assess the predictive quality of mindfulness and self-consciousness towards emotional adjustment (adjustment disorder symptoms, depression and anxiety) and academic performance, and to further determine the contribution of mindfulness and self-consciousness on adjustment to the predictability of academic performance. First-year students (N = 290) at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) at the Pretoria West and Ga-Rankuwa campuses completed the selfreported mindfulness measure, Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003), the Self Consciousness Scale- Revised (SCS-R) (Scheier & Carver, 1985), the Beck Depression Scale (BDI) (Beck et al., 1961) the Beck Anxiety Scale (BAI) Beck & Steer,1993) and the adjustment disorder checklist; based on DSM V, (Sadock, Sadock & Ruiz, 2014). Students’ year-end results for the first year of study were used to operationalize academic performance. Results of correlation analyses indicated a significant negative correlation between mindfulness and students’ emotional adjustment (adjustment disorder symptoms, depression and anxiety), a significant positive correlation between selfconsciousness and students’ emotional adjustment (adjustment disorder symptoms, depression and anxiety) as well as a significant negative correlation between adjustment disorder symptoms and academic performance. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test whether mindfulness and self-consciousness significantly predicted students’ depression, anxiety and adjustment disorder symptoms. The results of the regression analysis indicated the two predictors explained 16% of the variance (F (1, 1773) = 29.66, P< 0.0001) (depression), 14% of the variance (F (1, 985) = 24.14, p < 0.0001) (anxiety) and 14% of variance (F (2, 292) = 23.87, p <0.001) (adjustment disorder symptoms). Furthermore, mediation analysis provided information regarding the impact of mindfulness and selfconsciousness on students’ academic performance. The impact of mindfulness and selfconsciousness on students’ academic performance (students’ marks) was found to be mediated by adjustment disorder symptoms. However, the Sobel test indicated a significant effect (0.03) for mindfulness and an insignificant effect (0.09) for self-consciousness. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)